John Hyrum Fullmer (1857-1907)
}} Biography John Hyrum Fullmer was born 30 August, 1857 in Cottonwood, Utah (about 1300 East and 6600 South on the Tanner farm). His father was Almon Linus Fullmer (1816-1890), a well known pioneer and explorer of Southern Utah, and Rachel Neyman Fullmer. John himself was active in several stores and mines in the Beaver Utah mining district. For a time he was US Marshall and had a couple of encounters with famous outlaw, Butch Cassidy. Early Life Rachel and Almon were married and sealed 10 January 1852 in President Brigham Young's office. Almon had married Sarah Ann Follett in Nauvoo. Both of the families lived in the Ninth Ward in Salt Lake City, Utah. After the birth of her first two sons, Thaddeus and Franklin Pierce, and while she was pregnant with John Hyrum, problems arose and Rachel moved to Cottonwood to be with her sister Mary Ann Neyman Nickerson and her mother Jane Harper Neyman. John's mother was divorced from his father before he was born. He and his brothers Thaddeus and Franklin were raised in Beaver, Utah with the Sidney Tanner family (his mother's second husband, they married 2 April 1859). They were farmers and also helped in the mines near Beaver, Utah. Mining became a big interest in his life. Deer Trail Mine They had moved to Thompsonville in 1882 where John began a farm. Mining was prominent in this area and Marysvale was in a boom situation, so John opened a General Merchandise Store there. He operated the store, farmed and did some prospecting in the hills around there. He and another person found some high grade ore and sold their interest for a good profit. Later this "Deer Trail Mine" produced millions of dollars of ore. 1885 Mining Accident They later moved to Marysvale, Utah where Ida Dott was born 22 April 1885. While John was working in a mine, some large rocks fell on one foot, crushing two of his toes which had to be amputated. Circleville Store John decided to open another store in Circleville, a farming community twenty miles south of Marysvale. Ellen was against this move because of the Indian trouble that had recently occurred with the Indians killing four people there. She did agree a little later and they opened a second store in Circleville and moved the family there about 1886. John operated both stores with Ellen and their young son Lorin looking after the Circleville store while he was at the Marysvale store. The Marysvale store burned down one night, and John never rebuilt it. He put his efforts into the Circleville store and 160 acres of farm land he had acquired. He hired a man to take care of it, but he and his boys were very much involved in it, so he was always a busy man. In Circleville, John became involved in the political and social aspects of the town. He was mainly responsible for the building of a rock elementary school building and a social hall for the town. When they first moved to Circleville, they lived in a very small house. Later, he built a large home which became a stopover for the stagecoach. There were no cars in those days and men traveled by team and buggy and came most any time of the day for meals. Because of his buying from firms in Salt Lake City, Ogden and Provo, like Z.C.M.I., Strevell Patterson Hardware Company, Scowcrofts, and other businesses in those cities for his two stores, he developed a very good relationship with prominent people in those organizations that were very beneficial in a political way. Enough notoriety was developed that he and his son Lorin appear in the book "Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah". US Marshall John was a United States Marshal from 1876 to 1892, and he never came home without bringing some kind of present for his children. Dott still has a small vase that he brought her when she was very young. Another time he brought a pair of guinea pigs, and the very next morning the female gave birth to a little family of three. Of course, this made them all very happy. One interesting experience that he had while he was U.S. Marshal was when he and a posse were after some outlaws in eastern Utah, when a rider on his horse suddenly appeared from behind a tree and warned them not to go into the canyon because there was an ambush set up for them. He disappeared as suddenly as he had appeared. John recognized the rider as Butch Cassady, because Butch was originally from Circleville. Butch Cassady's name was Leroy Parker and his family were long time residents of Circleville. They were well respected in the town and didn't approve of Butch's life-style. John and the posse didn't go into the canyon, and he thought that Butch had probably saved his life that day. According to the records in the National Archives, John was called, along with some other well known ex-U.S. Marshals to serve as Special Deputies to President Teddy Roosevelt in 1902. Ghostbuster He always had a deep interest in mining and did a lot of prospecting in the local area and also in the Beaver-Milford area. He was away from home so much that Ellen and Lorin took care of all there was to do at home during his absence. He came home from one trip and found that because of a white ghost everyone was afraid to go out at night. John strapped on his gun and headed out. He hadn't gone far when he heard an unusual noise and saw, in the alley, an albino donkey braying it's head off. Gun Accident One day he returned home to find the pump (which was used to get our water from the well) out of order, and as he raised the pump handle and brought it down, it struck the firing pin of his pistol which he wore on his hip when on duty, and it fired. The bullet went down the right leg (starting at the knee) between the two bones of his leg and lodged in his ankle. The bullet was removed, but the wound took many months to heal. He nearly lost his life from this accident, but survived. He walked with a limp from then on. A few years later, he was assisting with drilling a well at his home by a man who had the equipment for that purpose, it being a large derrick. A piece of the equipment malfunctioned and some large tongs fell, striking him on the top of his head. He was rushed to Salt Lake City where the crushed bones were removed and a plate put on top of his head for protection. He still had the farm and several fine teams for work on the farm. One team he drove on the buggy. He also had saddle horses which his children loved to ride. He had fine purebred Durham cattle, and even with all of this responsibility he was a public spirited man. He still was involved with mining, so leased the Deer Trail Mine, which he had operated for several years at Marysvale, to a mining company. But he did not strike the main vein, consequently he did not make a profit. Another Meeting with Butch John served as a Legislator for the State of Utah during the years 1899 and 1900. One day as he was out to Liberty Park, a man came up to him and called him by name. To his surprise it was Butch Cassady, and they entered into a conversation about Circleville and the Parker family, especially about Butch's mother. He was starved for information about his family. John was no longer a Marshal, so he couldn't arrest Butch, and because of the warning he had given him in eastern Utah, he just visited with him for awhile. 1907 Death He worked so much out in the cold and exposure that he caught a very severe cold, which left him with a brain abscess which doctors were not able to treat effectively. It caused his death May 1st, 1907. He was in the Latter-Day Saints Hospital in Salt Lake City. Marriage & Family John was a very kind and understanding father and he loved his family, and they all respected and loved him. He was buried in Circleville, Piute County, Utah, cemetery. He left a widow, age 47 years to finish raising a family of eight children. After his death, Ellen had his temple work done. They were sealed in the Manti temple 4 March 1908. The children were sealed to them at the time of their marriages in the temple for the most part. The rest of them were sealed at a later time. John married Ellen Lundblad on 31 December 1878 when he was twenty-one years old. They lived in Beaver, where their first three children were born. John Lorin was born 12 December 1879, then came Frank Neyman, born 26 April 1881 and Edith Idell, born 12 November 1882. Frank and Edith both died while they were living in Thompsonville, and were buried there in the old Thompsonville Cemetery, which is now called the Big Valley Cemetery. In Circleville there were seven more children born to this couple; Dwight L 29 August 1887, Ina Ellen 23 May 1890, Effie Mame 18 Feb 1892, Arvil Elton 3 December 1893, Nora Loreta 17 May 1897, Rolla Jay 18 March 1901, and Ardis Revoe 8 August 1903. Nora Loreta died in 1905 and Rolla Jay in 1902 when they were very young.